204 



NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 



bushels of fruit in a season. What boy will watch some 

 of these, so as to be able to tell us what they do ? ^ 



The Curculios, or Snout Beetles. — The apple curculio, Antho- 

 nomus qjtadrigibbus, does considerable damage to cultivated 

 apples in some of the Southern States, but is not generally 

 numerous. There are also quince and grape curculios, 

 Conotraclielus cratcBgi and Cmponuis inmqualis, which may 

 be studied in neighborhoods where they are destruc- 

 tive. Other members of this family infest nuts and 



acorns and some 

 other garden 

 fruits. The 

 insect for special 

 study in this 

 group is the 

 plum curculio, 

 Conotraclielus 

 71 c 11 up li ar. If 

 neglected, this 

 pest may take a 

 large part, or the 

 whole, of the peach, apricot, plum, and cherry crop. 



The statistical method may be adopted again by asking 

 each member of the class to examine loo plums, peaches, 

 or cherries, to discover what proportion of the fruit is 

 affected. Ask the pupils to observe the laying of eggs, 

 which may readily be seen shortly after the fruit has 

 begun to grow in the spring, when peaches are about the 



Fig. 84. Plum Curculio 

 Larva, adult, and mark on the fruit. (Enlarged) 



1 For full account of Trypeta, by F. L. Harvey, see Annual Report of 

 the Maine State College Agricultural Experiment Station, 1889, pp. 190-237, 

 Plates I-III. 



